My liberal-conservative voting dilemma

[Spanish Guy]

Sorry if it isn't the appropiate place for this thread, because is of European politics, although I've put it here as I've seen a thread about the UKIP in the same forum.

As you may know, on Sunday there will be elections in the European Union, where we choose our 751 deputees in the European Parliament. However they're far from being a election where the elector thinks on a Pan-European level, few people know that Juncker is the EPP candidate, and Schultz the socialist one, and the votings and debates are usually focused on national topics, as the abortion law or the Catalan Referendum. As, furthermore, due to the different electoral system is easier for a minor party getting a MEP than a MP (congressman) in the Spanish Legislature, I won't do it differently than most Europeans, my vote will be determined mostly by national issues.

The Spanish political scene have changed a lot since 2011 when the PP (equivalent to American GOP) won the national elections. I recognise I didn't vote for them. The ruling leadership of the PP is clearly what you Americans would call RINO's, taxese are higher than ever, and the overwhelming bureaucracy have not been reduced. The tensions inside the PP, between people linked to former Prime Minister José María Aznar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Aznar), or former Governor of Madrid Esperanza Aguirre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanza_Aguirre) (more pro free-market and Atlantist than the current party) are important, and which is more strange in a country of Spain where parties try to show themselves as homogenous blocs, notorious for the general public. Finally in December the PP suffered a split, when a new party, VOX, was created and who have been supported by members of the most conservative wing of the PP. The reasons given was what was considered a soft antiterrorist policy of the Spanish government, high taxes and bureaucracy.

I share some views with the new party. Bureaucracy in Spain is huge, with several Administrations with the same functions, and the economic policies of the current government are horrible and counterproductive, as they're not fighting for finishing with the power of the trusts or diminishing the regulations in certain sectors as the labour market, transport, education or communications. However I don't share their views in another issues. Socially is a conservative party, which I doubt it'd never support causes as legalization of weed, keeping homosexual marriage, secularism and separation between the Catholic Church and the Spanish State, and which probably would pursue and tougher antiterrorist policy. A friend of mine, which will vote for them on Sunday says me they're the real holders of the Aznar and Aguirre administrations (both of them are still in the PP but without any responsabilities), but really, as I'd have in his day problems for voting for Aznar or Aguirre, I'd have problems for voting for a party with so a socially conservative agenda. Although the possibility of pressing the government to follow a more pro-market economic policy by supporting a conservative split of them is always attractive.

So now I have a real dillemma which I think some of you'd have suffered in the past. As far as I will not vote for the current government, should I vote for that party, or for other one with a more "centrist" economic agenda but with a more "liberal" social agenda, defending, for example, the legalization of weed, prostitution, and secularism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens%27_Party_%28Catalonia%29)? Talking in American terms... Tea Party or New Democrats?

[Christian Liberty]

I don't fully understand the European political scene. Thinking in American terms, probably neither. If you don't feel comfortable with a party, just don't vote. Don't give an evil party your votes.

[Zippyjuan]

You have to decide what side of what issues are most important to you. Party affiliation is just a label- there are good people and bad people in all parties.

[helmuth_hubener]

I would go with the VOX, because the economic stuff is more important (you can always do the drugs, prostitution, etc., with very little risk if you're intelligent, if those things are really important to you, but you can't create a whole thriving economy on your own)... were it not for this: They oppose the autonomous regions system! And they don't like the Catalan and Basque secession movements! Decentralization is, to me, a huge issue, a much bigger issue long-term than whether the PP or the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) gets into power for the next couple years. Vox describes themselves as a centralist party, and I think they are.

If Catalonia could become completely independent, that would be a fantastic boon for liberty! And the people are for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_independence_referendum,_2009_(Arenys_de_M unt) . The more countries the better.

So, a pox on VOX.

You could always try to help out the Individual Freedom Party: http://www.p-lib.es/ That's the only party in Spain that I personally would have a great love for. And in it you could probably find some fun like-minded people to talk, fiesta, and be amigos with!

[No1butPaul]

Are either of the parties anti-EU, or Euro skeptics as they call them?

[Spanish Guy]

No1butPaul: In Spain the only euroskeptics parties are the ones of the far-left, and some minor parties from the Catholic right which are not more than neo-franquist and socialist conservatives.

Helmut, things are a bit different in Spain. In United Stes you're used to see conservative forces defending state rights, whilst the leftists are against decentralization, in Spain is the oppossite. Left forces in Spain are sympathetic towards secessionism and regional nationalist, whilst the conservatives one are more unionist and Spanish nationalist. The tries to create parties defending conservativism and what you Americans would call State Rights, or leftist and centralist position, have ended with those parties disbanded or evolving to more centrist positions.

Currently, Spain is a extremely decentralized country, where each community (state) have their own educational and health system, highway networks, hidrographic policies or partial control over fiscal policies (essentially income, gas and "environmental" taxes). Moreover some communities have control over their own railway networks, their own police forces or, as Catalonia, their prision system. That decentralization happened in the 70s and 80s, and, according to many, have led to the creation of huge regional bureaucracies.

http://javiersevillano.es/Imagenes/empleados-publicos-admon-2.jpg
Public workers hired by the communities (red), local administration, (orange), Spanish State (green), Social Security (blue, since 2007 hired by the communities), and public enterprises (purple)

The current proposal of VOX is to give back some powers to the Spanish State, essentially, police, education and health system, whilst giving the rest of the regional competences to Municipalities and Diputaciones (counties). I like the devolution to Municipalities and Diputaciones but I don't like the proposal of giving back powers to the State. I understand the reasons given by VOX to ask for it, as they claim every children should study in the language their parents want, whilst some communities forces children to study in their own local languages (Galician, Catalan, etc.) in order to preserve the local language, but I think that legislation should be enforced by the communities and not by the State.

Finally, I don't think secessionism is supported by most of the Catalans, one thing is being popular ir rural areas and another thing is being a major force in Barcelona and his metro area. Moreover, the situation is different of Texas splitting from the USA. Texas is a conservative state in a nation whose political center is in a Progressive region as your Eastern Coast, and whose president is a Progressive like Obama. Catalonia is a leftist region in a nation whose political center is in Castilla, a very conservative region, with a conservative President, and whose capital, Madrid, is ruled by the most conservative-economic faction of the PP. An independent Catalonia would be a country governed by social-democrats, socialists, communists and ecologists, as have happened in the last decade with their regional government and the most important municipalities. With awful results for them IMHO.

[Ronin Truth]

"If voting ever really changed anything, it would be made illegal."

[No1butPaul]

I'll admit, this is a bit confusing and, so, going back to your original question, "Talking in American terms... Tea Party or New Democrats?" -- Tea Party, no question (although there is definitely not a consensus with that position in this forum). Keeping in mind though, the Tea Party is not a party, but a movement with the purpose really to protest financial irresponsibility, excessive regulation strangling liberty and the economy, and business as usual in Washington (voting for bills no one has read, for example). The tea party was always about promoting issue positions for financial responsibility.

Forgive me, but wasn't your current government (the one I believe you likened to the Tea Party) pro EU bank bailout?

[helmuth_hubener]

Helmut, things are a bit different in Spain. In United States you're used to see conservative forces defending state rights, whilst the leftists are against decentralization, in Spain is the opposite. That's true. My brother is actually in Spain right now. Anyway, I just think that decentralization is extremely important. So in this case, the leftists have it right.


Currently, Spain is a extremely decentralized country, where each community (state) have their own educational and health system, highway networks, hidrographic policies or partial control over fiscal policies (essentially income, gas and "environmental" taxes). Moreover some communities have control over their own railway networks, their own police forces or, as Catalonia, their prision system. That decentralization happened in the 70s and 80s, and, according to many, have led to the creation of huge regional bureaucracies. Right, exactly! The Autonomous Region system is terrific! It's far more federalist (decentralized) than what we have in the supposedly federalist USA. Yes, all these autonomous regions are socialist, but guess what? That's what you get when you have a country filled with socialists! I mean, there's really no magic way around that. If the people are socialist... that's a problem. And it can't be solved just by shuffling a few chairs around in the Cortes Generales. Things are going to be socialist. And the growth of gov't is just built into the logic of the Bismarkian system; we have the same problem everywhere in the world. So I wouldn't blame the Autonomous Region system for that. America has the same problem. The local governments are growing rapidly, even though their scope of authority most certainly has not grown, but is shrinking.


The current proposal of VOX is to give back some powers to the Spanish State, essentially, police, education and health system, whilst giving the rest of the regional competences to Municipalities and Diputaciones (counties). I like the devolution to Municipalities and Diputaciones but I don't like the proposal of giving back powers to the State. I understand the reasons given by VOX to ask for it, as they claim every children should study in the language their parents want, whilst some communities forces children to study in their own local languages (Galician, Catalan, etc.) in order to preserve the local language, but I think that legislation should be enforced by the communities and not by the State. Oh, that's more complex than I had known. Well, I agree with everything you're saying here. The devolution to Municipalities and Diputaciones would be good. Maybe go with Vox after all.


Finally, I don't think secessionism is supported by most of the Catalans, one thing is being popular in rural areas and another thing is being a major force in Barcelona and his metro area. So Barcelonians are not as much in favor of secession? That's too bad.


Moreover, the situation is different of Texas splitting from the USA. Texas is a conservative state in a nation whose political center is in a Progressive region as your Eastern Coast, and whose president is a Progressive like Obama. Catalonia is a leftist region in a nation whose political center is in Castilla, a very conservative region, with a conservative President, and whose capital, Madrid, is ruled by the most conservative-economic faction of the PP. An independent Catalonia would be a country governed by social-democrats, socialists, communists and ecologists, as have happened in the last decade with their regional government and the most important municipalities. With awful results for them IMHO. Yes, it would probably be kind of like Hawaii (a very social-democrat/socialist/communist/ecologist place) seceding from the USA. But still.... the more countries the better. 300 countries in Europe is better than 30.

Maybe vote for VOX, but join the P-Lib-I (http://www.p-lib.es/) as well. They are the party truly in favor of freedom, liberty, and the kind of ideals Ron Paul stands for.

[William Tell]

"If voting ever really changed anything, it would be made illegal."

"If whining on the on the internet ever really changed anything, it would be made illegal":rolleyes:

[Spanish Guy]

I'll admit, this is a bit confusing and, so, going back to your original question, "Talking in American terms... Tea Party or New Democrats?" -- Tea Party, no question (although there is definitely not a consensus with that position in this forum). Keeping in mind though, the Tea Party is not a party, but a movement with the purpose really to protest financial irresponsibility, excessive regulation strangling liberty and the economy, and business as usual in Washington (voting for bills no one has read, for example). The tea party was always about promoting issue positions for financial responsibility.

Forgive me, but wasn't your current government (the one I believe you likened to the Tea Party) pro EU bank bailout?

Yes they were. The fact is the political spectrum in Europe is different and more leftist than the American one. What I would call Spanish Tea Party is obviously more leftist than the American Tea Party. Moreover the economy of Spain has much more regulations than the American one, and the culture of people is also more leftist. You must note, for example, that these elections the parties supporting the "Venezuelan model" for Spain, are getting around 20% of votes.

So although we had a President who looked up to Hayek as Aznar, obviously their policies were much leftist than the Austrian economist thinking. Each country is different, and implementing drastically the Ron Paul agenda could be very complicated in Spain without causing violence or something worse, and any party supporting Ron Paul agenda, as the P-LIB won't get more than 0.01% of the votes. Is a bit similar to what happened with the Venezuelan politcian María Corina Machado (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Corina_Machado) a supporter of people's capitalism, Hayek and Mises but who has supported the candidate Capriles in the Presidential election, with an agenda which could be considered similar to the leftist wing of Dems in America.

So my question is about voting a party which in our political spectrum is in the same position as the New Dems there, or our Tea Party, although their agendas would be mainstream Dems and RINOS (Vox is in fact supported by Rudy Giuliani) respectively.

[Spanish Guy]

IMHO secessionism in Spain is not caused by any desire of personal freedom but because the politicians have found it a good way to justify their awful gestion. So what if Catalonia have 25% of unemployment? They blame Spanish government, although we're spending tons of millions in bailing out Catalonia. And now they ask for independence, inside the EU but outta Spain. But not for diminishing the taxes (which in Catalonia are among the highest in the world) but for having a welfare state similar to the French one.

Secessionism in Catalonia was minoritary until 2012. Then, after 10 years of a coalition government between the socialdemocrats, the indepentist socialdemocrats, the commies and the ecologists, the right-winged Catalan nationalist party (who have never been secessionist) won the elections, but needed the support of indepentist socialdemocrats to govern. So they've taken a more secessionist policy, while blaming for every problem in Catalonia to Spanish gvt.

Barcelonians are not as much in favor of secession as Spanish-speaking people tend to support the union, and the Catalan-speaking the secessionism. Spanish speaking people lives in the big cities, specially Barcelona and metropolitan area and Tarragona, whilst the Catalan-speaking population is found in rural areas. The same happens in the Basque Country, where the pro-Union parties get good results in the cities, whilst Bildu, a socialist-commie-independentist coalition got 80 or 90% of votes in rural areas where everybody is Basque-speaker.

[Demigod]

If Catalonia could become completely independent, that would be a fantastic boon for liberty!

Secession does not mean automatic increase in freedom,most of the times it is the opposite.During Yugoslavia there was one central government and everyone complained why all the money is going to Belgrade while most of the republics were fighting for the scraps.Then everyone seceded.Today there are 6 governments ( 7 if you count Kosovo ) and every single problem that existed before the split still exists + many new ones.The only difference today is that instead of having a 24 million market and a country large enough to have some influence ,5 bankrupt banana republics exist + 2 criminal strongholds.It was never the complete fault of the central government politicians that things were as they were,the local politicians were mostly to blame and it only took 100+ thousand people to learn the lesson.The sad thing is most did not even learn it.

[Ronin Truth]

"If whining on the on the internet ever really changed anything, it would be made illegal":rolleyes:

I suppose that your Internet whining observation must also apply to voters and voting.

[William Tell]

I suppose that your Internet whining observation must also apply to voters and voting

Naw, I was just picking on that overrated quip internet people use to justify being non politically involved, like most of the sheeple are. People ignoring the government is how tyrants come to power.

[William Tell]

Back to the original thread, vote for a right wing party.

[Ronin Truth]

Naw, I was just picking on that overrated quip internet people use to justify being non politically involved, like most of the sheeple are. People ignoring the government is how tyrants come to power.

Sorry, I just haven't noticed too many tyrants prevented by people involved in politics, so far. By and large they are usually just tyrant enablers. How about you?

[William Tell]

Sorry, I just haven't noticed too many tyrants prevented by people involved in politics, so far. By and large they are usually just tyrant enablers. How about you?

I think Switzerland has done pretty good overall. We are better off having guys like Ron Paul in office, than John McCain. Hate to break the news to you, but Liberty advocates are being elected all across the nation, no thanks to the Debbie Downers.;)

[Ronin Truth]

I think Switzerland has done pretty good overall. We are better off having guys like Ron Paul in office, than John McCain. Hate to break the news to you, but Liberty advocates are being elected all across the nation, no thanks to the Debbie Downers.;)

Please be sure to let me know how all that successful electoral Liberty advocacy turns out in making any significant changes the status quo.




Statement of Purpose: Voluntaryists are advocates of non-political, non-violent strategies to achieve a free society. We reject electoral politics, in theory and in practice, as incompatible with libertarian principles. Governments must cloak their actions in an aura of moral legitimacy in order to sustain their power, and political methods invariably strengthen that legitimacy. Voluntaryists seek instead to delegitimize the State through education, and we advocate withdrawal of the cooperation and tacit consent on which State power ultimately depends.



http://voluntaryist.com/

[No1butPaul]

//

[No1butPaul]

The Podemos ‘earthquake’ could spell real reform in Spain
David Gardner | May 27 15:07

The focus in last week’s European elections was on the seismic waves of the distinct currents of Euro-populism and reaction that “earthquaked” to the top of the polls in France, Britain (or at least England), Denmark and Greece. But arguably the most intriguing insurgency was Podemos (We Can) in Spain, a phenomenon worth examining outside the swish and swirl of populism.

Much of what I have seen written about Podemos has them “coming out of nowhere” – a cliché employed by politicians and analysts that means “we didn’t see them coming”. Yet a three-month-old party with a budget of barely €100,000 shot into fourth place with one and a quarter million votes and five seats in the European Parliament – similar to Syriza, the Greek left-wing party they plan to hitch up with.

The eruption of Podemos and its compellingly outspoken leader, Pablo Iglesias, has already triggered the fall of Alfredo Perez Rubalcalba, the Socialist secretary general who has presided over the party’s worst electoral performance since democracy was restored in 1977-78. But while obviously a rising current of a new left, Podemos could be a broader catalyst for political change in Spain and beyond.

The most obvious origins of this cleverly improvised party are in the mass movement of indignados that took over some 50 public squares across Spain three years ago, proclaiming that the EU-wide crisis was not so much a crisis as a scam by bankers and politicians that denies employment to more than half of Spain’s youth.

“If people don’t do politics themselves, they get it done to them, and that’s when they [the politicians] steal your democratic rights as well as your wallet,” Iglesias, a 35-year-old political science professor, said in an interview on Tuesday.

The embryonic party’s emphasis on grassroots participation – through some 300 “circles” across the country – and voting for candidates through a system of primaries, also has obvious inspiration in the indignados assemblies. But Podemos also links back nearly five decades to the soixante-huitard tradition, through figures such as the former Trotskyist leader Jaime Pastor, or Publico, an online newspaper owned by Jaume Roures, Trotskyite-turned-media-tycoon owner of the Mediapro group. Publico’s TV programmes turned Iglesias into a sought-after guest on a range of mainstream current affairs programmes, and this made him a national figure.

The tendency of some media and political analysts to fixate on the internet and social media as the all-powerful enabler in modern politics and, especially, of political insurgencies misses the fact that it was TV that was key to the Podemos breakthrough. It used the web for crowd-funding, for the primaries and to convene meetings. But with almost no money, it pragmatically personalised the campaign in the TV personality of Iglesias, a media scholar who says “the main space or political socialisation in this country is television”.

Podemos policies are vague, populist, anti-capitalist and anti-globalisation. It rages externally against Germany and the troika (the European Commission, European Central Banks and International Monetary Fund) for imposing untenable levels of debt and joblessness on the EU periphery – as they see it – to save German banks. Internally, Iglesias never speaks without lambasting what he calls la casta (the caste) – the ossified hierarchs of the governing Partido Popular and the Socialists, most of whom have never done anything in life except rise inexorably up their parties, all the while (Podemos says) failing or betraying the country.

But this has struck a note amid Spain’s crisis, which is institutional as well as economic – a message that extends beyond the usual leftie suspects to the thinking and sinking middle classes.

Practices emphasised by Podemos such as selection primaries did not come out of nowhere. One of the root causes of institutional decay in Spain is its political parties, in which the list system vests all power in the party leadership. In the course of last year, for example, a group impelled by diverse independent figures such as Carles Casajuana, former Spanish ambassador to the UK, called for wholesale democratic reform of Spain’s parties, which habitually politicise other institutions such as the judiciary. Another of the 100 initial signatories of that manifesto, the economist Cesar Molinas, said this was essential to overcome the “extractive elites” plaguing the country. A smaller group of left-wing independents around the controversial crusading magistrate Baltasar Garzon called somewhat optimistically for a new and unified politics of the left to overcome the crisis.

So no, Podemos did not emerge from nowhere. However well it goes on to perform, the momentum it has already generated could be a catalyst for reform.

http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2014/05/the-podemos-earthquake-could-spell-real-reform-in-spain/

[helmuth_hubener]

Secession does not mean automatic increase in freedom, most of the times it is the opposite. I disagree, looking at the big picture. I'd far rather have a world with 3,000 independent nations than 300. 30,000 would be even better.

Yugoslavia had war for secession. War, indeed, seldom produces altogether good and intended results. Peaceful dissolution is another matter.

Independentisme Català!

Even more enthusiastically: Indipendenza Veneta! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_nationalism#Recent_developments)

[helmuth_hubener]

Finally, I don't think secessionism is supported by most of the Catalans, one thing is being popular in rural areas and another thing is being a major force in Barcelona and his metro area.
Actually, it looks like independence is in a dramatic upswing in popularity. Very dramatic. Look at the green line:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Modelcatala0611.png

The Center for Opinion Studies has been doing scientific polling on the topic since 2005. The green line is total, 100% independence. The blue line is Federal State (also awfully independent). The yellow is Autonomous Community. All other choices have tapered off into nothing. This data clearly shows: The Overwhelming Majority in Catalonia support either becoming a free and Independent state, or becoming a federal state, or at least being autonomous (a word synonymous with independent)!

Here's the 2010 demonstration in Barcelona for Catalan autonomy:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Manifestaci%C3%B310J-293.JPG/640px-Manifestaci%C3%B310J-293.JPG

So, there's a few urban Barcelonians in favor of independence, too. ;)

[CrissyNY]

this is a very interesting thread

[Spanish Guy]

@helmuth: The CEO is controlled by the Catalan government. His neutrality is, IMHO, as dubious as the one of the CIS, the demoscopic agency of the Spanish Gvt. However current status in Spain is very unstable and nobody can know what will happen, although it seems this summer we will have a constitutional reform in order to "fit" Catalonia in Spain.


[/url]

Podemos is a party founded by Pablo Iglesias. He's a professor in the Universidad Complutense, the most important in Spain, who is a political comentator. Initially he was a political commentator in a TV program in a TV station from Vallecas, a working-class district of Madrid, but two years ago he began to act as a political commentator in Intereconomia, a right-winged TV station, and from there to any TV station in Spain. He always have been linked with the Communist Party, in fact he was a militant of the UJCE, the Communist Youth League of Spain, and a declared supporter of Castro, Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution in South America.

In the past he was said he would be the United Left (a coalition led by the Communist Party) candidate for being the major of Madrid in the next year municipal election, city where his girlfriend was a councilor for the United Left. However this year he split from the IU, as he asked for primaries for choosing the candidates in the United Left. That's difficult in the United Left, as it is a coalition of docens of small leftist parties who will always want candidates placed in good position to become deputee. So he created his new assambleary movement, allegedly far from the bureaucratic United Left, with lot of people from the Anticapitalist Left (the troskists) and young people, and obviously very left-winged.

He's a very intelligent and skilled speaker, has been able to convince a lot of people, aided by the fact that most of the right-winged political comentators are dumbass with any conection with the social reality of Spain, and a skillful use of the demagogy and a extremely populist and leftist agenda, `rpomising to reduce retirement age from 67 to 60, a broader welfare-state, etc. . Also Podemos has been able to exploit the anger of Spanish people with politicians because of unemployment and corruption, and also has used the social networks as Twitter or Facebook very effectively.

And what do you think have been the answer given by the Government? Promising more integrity and attention to people's claims? A change of policy and a regeneration of the public policy? No, the only thing they've made is to send Arriola, a guy who have worked for the party since the 80s, insulting Podemos voters.

In conclusion, a far-left party who have got a lot of voters of angered people, with a leftist agenda, claiming for the "regeneration" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerationism) (what a wonderful word, used by almost every Spanish politician since you won us the Cuba War) and getting profit of the huge popularity of their leader.

Will they have future? I don't know, their popularity will fall if economic situtation improves, but I doubt the weak economic recuperation Spain is having now will be enough solid for avoiding it. Moreover, next elections in Spain are the local ones of 2015 and given the characteristics of the movement, they can got great results in local elections.

[helmuth_hubener]

I have kept meaning to find this thread and post to it for about a week now, but I keep forgetting. HUGE news from Spain:


JUAN CARLOS HAS ABDICATED!

FELIPE TO BE KING!

Can you guys believe it?

The take-away: Juan Carlos was pretty good from a liberty perspective, in my opinion, as far as monarchs go. And it looks like Felipe will be not half bad. He's been making nice with Catalonian separatist leaders (many trips there the past few months, subtle (everything Felipe does is subtle) gestures of good will and supportiveness), which infuriates the anti-secession right-wing, of course. Felipe seems to have made a habit of infuriating the right wingers, in fact (e.g., by who he married, also). He seems like he might be an OK guy. Certainly his dad, Juan Carlos, had some big surprises up his sleeve when he came to power. Perhaps Felipe will lead Spain into a new libertarian era.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

[helmuth_hubener]

Come on, guys!

Spain!

The monarchy!

Felipe!

This is exciting stuff; big news.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/6/2/1401722417685/3753378a-a1e2-42c0-9693-58cbdc94f089-479x480.jpeg
Juan Carlos, his wife Sophia, and little Felipe

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/6/2/1401721990463/d3817b8b-ee21-4160-a347-bd7fec71e1b2-620x412.jpeg
Felipe and family


Here's some thoughts on why it's important from a libertarian perspective:


Juan Carlos

June 8, 2014 by thelibertarianpress

When a dictator dies or retires there is fear of chaos or civil war, combined with hope of a new beginning. When an American president hands over to his successor there is a long transition as policies and personnel are changed and the ocean liner of the federal government gradually shifts direction. But when one of Europe’s constitutional monarchies hands over to another generation, nothing really changes. There is an enormous parade, but government continues as before. Real changes are quite separate and occur when there is a new prime minister.

Last time Spain changed its head of state it was, constitutionally, at the North Korean end of the spectrum. Today it is Britain or Sweden. One man is responsible for this, and he is the one who is handing over to his son. Spain is saying farewell to one of the greatest heroes of its history and it does not matter in the slightest. It is the remarkable and lasting achievement of King Juan Carlos that his decision to abdicate is of no significance at all.

Juan Carlos was granted dictatorial powers by Hitler’s last ally, General Franco. Almost immediately the King began to dismantle the power structures of the dictatorship from within. When the army tried to strike back it was the King who crushed the coup. While the whole cabinet and much of the Cortes (parliament) was held hostage, the King gathered junior government ministers around him and worked the phones calling the generals. Then he went on live TV. As Head of State he reassured the nation. As Commander in Chief he ordered the plotters to surrender. The coup collapsed.

For the next three decades he was the most popular Head of State in Europe. In recent years members of the King’s family have been criticized. His son-in-law has been accused of using his royal connections to further his business. Crown Prince Felipe, however, has long been engaged in quiet diplomacy on behalf of Spain and competed as a sailor in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Felipe remains popular, and is likely to bring a similar dignity to the role to that shown by his father. -- http://libertarianpress.co.uk/2014/06/08/juan-carlos/

And also: http://mises.ca/posts/articles/felipe-vi-vivat-rex/

[helmuth_hubener]

La Monarquía!